


Sticks like Summer

by stephanericher



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-30
Updated: 2016-07-30
Packaged: 2018-07-27 16:54:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7626529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stephanericher/pseuds/stephanericher
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Taking this job was a mistake.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sticks like Summer

After the first day of work Tatsuya’s beginning to wonder if taking this job at the Y camp was a mistake. It’ll look better on his resume to have had any summer job than some sort of gap, but it’s hard to know that it’s really worth it if he’s going to feel this beaten at the end of every day. Tatsuya likes kids; he likes teaching kids about sports and these kids are no exception so far. They seem like a good enough bunch, a mix of kids who really love sports and kids whose parents are trying to get them to do something other than sit in the basement playing video games all summer and kids whose parents want to keep them off the streets (at least for seven hours a day); even the ones who had started the day refusing to join in had warmed up by the end. But decent kids or no they’re preteens, and handling twenty of them at a time, all day, with just three other counselors, has been more exhausting than anything he’s ever done.

Shuu catches up with him outside the building, a younger sibling holding each hand, and it comes crashing down like the contents of an overloaded shelf that’s finally decided to buckle. They’d decided to apply for this job together; the whole point of it was to work and make money but also see each other, and even though they’re both working with the sports campers Shuu is working with the youngest group while Tatsuya’s working with the oldest and they’d passed each other on the stairs while Shuu was leading the little kids down to the cafeteria and Tatsuya was taking his group back up to the gym and that had been it.

“How was your first day?” Shuu asks.

Tatsuya shrugs. “Long. Yours?”

“Great. I really like the kids in my group, and my coworkers are pretty cool. They let me go a little early to pick these two up.”

Shuu’s siblings have both opted for the arts camp; Shuu’s sister’s latest big dream is to star in a Broadway play and Shuu’s brother would rather draw pictures than play dodgeball. He’s clutching a lanyard in one hand and explaining the details of the box stitch to his sister, who’s trying to implement it on top of her half-finished cobra.

“Want to come over for dinner?” says Shuu.

“No thanks,” says Tatsuya.

And he does want to, but he knows he’s going to end up falling asleep on their ridiculously plush leather couch and he’ll barely be aware during dinner and he’ll end up dozing off half-dressed in Shuu’s bed and that completes the doubleheader in defeating the purpose of doing things today, spending time with Shuu.

“You sure?”

“Yeah,” says Tatsuya. “We’ll catch some time together tomorrow.”

Shuu puts his hand on Tatsuya’s shoulder and squeezes it, and for a second Tatsuya’s afraid that he’ll push the issue, but he doesn’t.

“See you tomorrow, then.”

“Yup.”

* * *

Tatsuya crawls into bed and falls asleep the moment he gets home, and when the alarm rings in the morning he’s still not ready for another day. Not that it matters; he still has to show up and go to work. His group shares the gym with Shuu’s for about an hour in the afternoon; they play a long kickball match but he and Shuu are stuck on different sides, and Tatsuya has to step out to resolve a conflict of two kids wanting to play shortstop and both ending up in tears, and by the time they’ve agreed to both play outfield the match is over.

He’s a little less tired, though; the kids are a handful all together but he’s already getting used to it, already getting integrated into the flow of the group. It’s a bit like being on a basketball team, figuring out how to work with his teammates as individuals but also within the establishing group dynamic. Tatsuya just wishes that Shuu could be more of a part of it.

They meet outside again; the kids are pulling on Shuu’s arms and begging for ice cream and Shuu is trying to ignore them.

“I’ll buy you all ice cream,” Tatsuya says.

Shuu mutters something about spoiling their dinner, but really it’s not even four in the afternoon and it’s not as if he’s going to buy them jumbo sundaes. He goes back with them tonight; the kids inhale their ice cream cups after thanking him (and Shuu’s not far behind) but he’s still got a lot left of his cone by the time they reach the front door. The kids run upstairs and Tatsuya takes another lick; he can feel Shuu’s eyes following his tongue and slows down.

“You’re such a tease,” Shuu grumbles.

“Is that a complaint?” says Tatsuya.

“Not really, just an observation.”

* * *

They finally get to collaborate at the end of the week; Tatsuya’s boss is half-hungover and the other counselors clearly don’t want to lead, and when the younger kids come up from the pool to join them, Tatsuya’s already leading them in basketball drills. He lets his coworkers handle the ongoing practice and walks over to the other group.

“Want to join?”

A few of the kids nod eagerly; the head counselor flashes the thumbs-up.

“We’ve been doing basketball drills, and we were thinking of ending the morning with a game or two. Does that sound fun?”

“Yes,” most of the kids chorus.

“So, to get you up to speed, I’ll demonstrate a couple of basketball moves, and then you can work on them. Once they’re looking really good, we’ll move on. Sound good?”

The kids give an affirmative.

“Okay, I’m going to demonstrate with Shuu as my partner.”

Shuu grins. “What do you need me to do?”

“First we’re going to work on passing.”

They work through basic passes, starting close together but moving farther apart. Tatsuya’s reminding himself not to show off, not to go too far, but it’s so hard when he’s passing to Shuu; it’s hard not to turn around and make a layup or to dribble past him, hard not to get way to carried away.

He stops in time and busies himself with the kids, correcting their forms and praising their improvements and efforts. To an extent, it’s working; he’s still thinking about Shuu, though, about going one-on-one with him (they haven’t since last weekend) or playing with him or just being on the same court as him in any capacity.

He’s getting all set to leave at the end of the day when Shuu shows up back in the gym.

“You want to go one-on-one?”

Does he even have to ask?

The gym is poorly-ventilated and its floors haven’t been waxed in a couple of months; they’re both exhausted but they go all-out anyway, blocking each other’s shots and going in for the steal even when there’s no way in hell that’s going to happen, faking each other out and fooling each other, and straight-up shooting over each other’s heads on a jump.

This is exactly what he’d applied for.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for the prompt monmon~


End file.
